904 
spy 1 



ALASKA 



Its Resources, Present Condition 
and Needed Legislation 



BEING A SYNOPSIS OF AN ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BY 

Hon. James Wickersham, U. S. District Judge of 
Alaska, Before the Respective Chambers 
OF Commerce of Seattle, on No- 
vember 5, 1902, AND Tacoma 
November 11, 1902 



1902: 
ALLJ3N & LAMBORN FEINTING CO., 

TACOMA, WASH. 



ALASKA 



Its Resources, Present Condition 
and Needed Legislation 



BEING A SYNOPSIS OF AN ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BY 

Hon. James Wickersham, U. S. District Judge of 
Alaska, Before the Respective Chambers 
OF Commerce of Seattle, on No- 
vember 5, 1902, AND Tacoma 
November 11, 1902 



* * 



1903: 

ALLEN & LAMBORN PRINTING CO., 
TACOMA, WASH. 



.VV6 



PREFACE 



[Editorial in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Friday, Nov. 7, 1902.] 
JUDGE WICKERSHAM ON ALASKA. 

The needs and the possibilities of Alaska have never been more inter- 
estingly stated than in the address made by Judge Wickersham before the 
Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The speaker knows conditions in Alaska. 
Its needs are open to him not only through his residence there, but also 
as they are disclosed in the conditions of cases that come before him as 
a federal judge. What he recommends can be considered as the impartial 
opinion of a highly intelligent and sympathetic man, formed on the spot 
from sufficient evidence, and free from the possibility of personal or party 
bias. These are the prime needs of Alaska as formulated in Judge Wicker- 
sham's address : 

1. A public survey, so that land laws can be put in operation. 

2. A delegate in Congress, either elected or appointed. 

3. A weather bureau, because the question of climate in Alaska is 
always agitated and never understood outside of the district. 

4. An extension of the homestead laws, permitting a settler to take 
up 320 or 640 acres of land. 

5. The establishment of flsh hatcheries, to preserve and replenish 
one of the great resources of the country. 

6. An all-Amerlcan route from Copper River into the interior. 

7. Coast surveys and lighthouses along the entire coast, and especially 
about the Aleutian Islands. 

There can be no doubt that the carrying out by Congress of this rea- 
sonable and comprehensive plan would be of enormous benefit to Alaska as 
to the whole country. Not less interesting is the statement by Judge Wick- 
ersham that this territory is so vast and so rich that one day its political 
status must be recognized and its importance expressed by a division along 
lines fixed by the natural conformation of the country and the grouping 
of its interests Here is his idea : 

This fact must always be borne in mind, that some day four territories 
must be carved out of Alaska. You must consider that there are four 
great interests there, and not think only of the present territory. 

1. In the time to come there will be the territory of Sitka, with a 
capitol at Juneau. 

2. The territory of Alaska, with a capitol at Valdes. 

3. The territory of Seward, whose capitol will be Nome. 

4. And the territory of the Tanana, the vast interior, with a capitol 
at Eagle City or Rampart. 

This is a great vision, but a true one. The possibilities of Alaska 
today, with reference to the nation of which it is a part, are as those of 
the West were to the remainder of the country fifty years ago. It is an 
idea which all the people should grasp, which cannot be placed before 
them too frequently or emphatically, and which must become familiar to the 
statesmanship that would direct our destinies. 



<e^<^ 



S°?.HCL^„e <=;?/- /fj^^ 



ALASKA 



ITS RESOURCES, PRESENT CONDITION 
AND NEEDED LEGISLATION 



RESOURCES 



1. Population.— Four centuries ago the English language and 
civilization had not spread beyond the borders of England. Her 
colonial system had not then been inaugurated, and only began in 
1600 when the first charter was granted to the British East India 
Company. Virginia was settled in 1607, Massachusetts in 1620, New 
York in 1623 and Pennsylvania in 1682. The Hudson Bay Company 
and the Carolinas were first chartered in 1670; the conquest of 
Canada was concluded in 1756, and the settlement of Australia be- 
gun in 1788, Within two centuries after 1600 the English system 
planted colonies which have grown into the foremost nations of the 
earth; her expanding civilization carried into these new lands the 
free school, a free press, free thought, free speech, a consitutional 
form of government and the highest ideals of human liberty. Wher- 
ever, today, that civilization reaches is freedom, enlightenment and 
advancement. 

The people of the United States, a worthy offshoot of a thrifty 
stock, carried that civilization west of the Alleghanies, erected great 
states in the Mississippi Valley and crossed the Rocky Mountains 
and filled the valleys of the Pacific Coast States with the highest 
types of all that which the new movement represented. The dis- 
covery of gold in Alaska diverted a branch of this expanding popu- 
lation thither, and that territory, like other regions into which this 
particular human stream ran, has rapidly filled with a standard citi- 
zenship, a people who enforce laws and maintain order and possess 
a strong inherited tendency toward local self government. They 
now appeal to Congress to aid the further development of Alaska 



by establishing there the same form of representative government 
which they enjoyed in their old homes. 

Alaska has no delegate or other representative in the halls of 
Congress. According to the census of 1900 there were 63,441 per- 
sons residing within her borders. By the same census the State of 
Nevada had a population of only 42,335, though they had the benefit 
of a state and county government and were represented in Congress 
by two senators and a congressman. Idaho was admitted as a state 
in 1889, with two senators and a congressman, though in 1890 she 
had only 84,385 inhabitants. When organized as territories New 
Mexico had a population of 61,547, Arizona 9,658, and Oklahoma 
61,834. When admitted into the Union as states Tennessee had a 
population of only 35,691, Ohio 45,365 and Illinois 55,162. Alaska, 
with 63,441 inhabitants, is not even represented by a single dele- 
gate. There is a settled population at Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, and 
many other places in Southeastern Alaska; at Eagle City, Rampart, 
Valdes, Dutch Harbor, Nome, Council and a large number of other 
points. Numerous lines of ocean transportation connect her with 
Puget Sound and San Francisco; her people are busy, peaceful, edu- 
cated and capable of self government. 

2. Climate.— Alaska has two climates. Along the Pacific sea 
coast from Southeastern Alaska to the Aleutian Islands, it is exces- 
sively rainy; the great flat Yukon interior is dry and, in winter, 
excessively cold. The moisture arising from the Kuro-shiwo, or 
black stream of the Japanese, is precipitated in rain and snow on the 
south flank of the Coast Eange; the excessive rainfall and a low 
temperature feed the Muir, Malaspina and other great glacial fields. 
The casual tourist sailing along the front of these stupendous gla- 
ciers reaching down from the cloud-capped heights of the St. Elias 
range is largely responsible for the widely prevalent impression that 
the climate of Alaska begins with these ice fields on the south and 
extends away to the Arctic Ocean in increasing intensity. Just the 
opposite is the fact. There are no glaciers in the interior of Alaska, 
nor on the Bering Sea or Arctic Ocean slopes. Glaciers are formed 
by an excessive rain and snowfall in a high altitude and in a con- 
stantly low temperature. These conditions do not prevail in Alaska 
except along the south slope of the St. Elias range. The Yukon 
interior is low and flat, the Yukon Eiver where it crosses the British 
boundary line at Eagle City is but 800 feet above the sea level — 
though nearly 1,800 miles from its mouth. The rainfall in this 
vast region, from Bering Sea to the British line, from the Arctic 
Ocean to the inland slope of the St. Elias range, is not more than 
twelve inches per annum, a little more only than falls on the parched 

(4) 



mesas of Arizona. A foot of snow and rain falls on the south coast 
for every inch in the interior. The heaviest rainfall in the interior 
occurs in August; the winters are dry but cold, the summers are 
warm. The sky is clear and bright during both seasons. The winter 
climate is no more trying than that of Helena, Montana. Owing 
to the limited rainfaU north of the St. Elias range the interior would 
be a cold and arid desert if the ground was not constantly frozen 
to a great depth. During the long summer days the heat of an 
almost tropical sun thaws the surface to a depth of a few inches 
below which a subterranean cold-storage furnishes the necessary 
moisture to the plant roots. These vast ranges are then clothed in 
a summer suit of flowers and grass; herds of wild reindeer migrate 
from pasture to pasture like the buffalo of the Missouri plains. If 
all other stock shall fail, both the Siberian and native reindeer will 
flourish even on the mountain summits without prepared food or 
shelter and will furnish meat to the future Alaskan. Forests of 
good timber, all sufficient in size and quantity to supply local needs, 
fill the Yukon and tributary valleys— the best lying around Fort 
Yukon above the Arctic circle. 

The gulf stream of the Atlantic tempers the climate of Norway 
and Sweden, the Japan current that of Alaska. Nature's wringer, 
the great Coast Eange of Alaska, extracts the moisture and permits 
the freed and warm dry air to reach the interior and mitigate some- 
what the rigors of its Arctic climate. Dutch Harbor is on the 55th° 
of latitude; Edinburg, Newcastle, Glasgow, Copenhagen and Mos- 
cow are on the same degree. Valdes on the 60th ° is on the same 
line with Christiana, Stockholm and St. Petersburg. Nome, Earn- 
part and Eagle City are not farther north than the populous regions 
around the Gulf of Bothnia. 

The Yukon Basin produces good crops of potatoes, cabbage, 
carrots, beets, turnips, lettuce and other vegetables. If Congress 
will encourage settlement by the passage of a law similar in spirit 
to the Oregon donation land law, a population of a milliom farmers 
will inhabit the Valley of the Yukon within a century. 

3. FiSHERiLS. — The fisheries of Alaska are yet undeveloped. 
The cod and halibut banks are untouched; her waters teem with 
other varieties, while hundreds of streams overflow with untouched 
salmon. The streams emptying into Kotzebue Sound and the Arctic 
Ocean are filled with fish, while king salmon, grayling and white fish 
ascend the Yukon to its highest reaches. The Alaska salmon pack, 
beginning in 1883, has increased beyond all precendent and now 
exceeds that of any other region; it is now almost one-half the 
total output. The government ought to provide liberal hatchery 

(5) 



laws and enforce them strictly. From the most authentic records 
the pack of salmon each year since the business first commenced has 
been as follows: 



Years. 



1866. 
1867. 
1868. 
1869. 
1870. 
1871. 
1872. 
1873. 
1874. 
1875. 
1876. 
1877. 
1878. 
1879. 
1880. 
1881. 
1882. 
1883. 
1884. 
1885. 
1886. 
1887. 
1888. 
1889. 
1890. 
1891. 
1892. 
1893. 
1894. 
1895. 
1896. 
1897. 
1898. 
1899. 
1900. 
1901. 



c3 

•2 '^ 

a £ 

o « 
o 



4,000 
18,000 
28,000 
100,000 
150,000 
200,000 
250,000 
250,000 
350,000 
375,000 
450,000 
460,000 
400,480 
480,000 
530,000 
551,000 
541,300 
629,400 
656,179 
524,530 
454,943 
373,800 
367,750 
325,500 
433,500 
390,183 
502,800 
375,700 
511,000 
627,500 
501,200 
518,200 
498,530 
440,125 
313,417 
251,265 



c . 

IP fc, 

a g 

m 



2,500 

3,000 

8,000 

21,500 

36,500 

31,000 

51,000 

181,200 

200,300 

160,000 

81,450 

48,509 

39,300 

36,500 

58,000 

66,666 

35,006 

4,142 



29,000 



14,472 
41,000 
27,150 
33,580 
34,000 
17,500 



K 



> 



a 

3 

o Qi 
m -a ^ 



Ml 

3 



3 

o 



25,600 

24,800 

30,000 

30,000 

37,200 

48,500 

49,000 

38,000 

41,350 

51,750 

131,100 

195,400 

154.000 

199,068 

64,117 

78,305 

129,000 

105,309 

103,340 

205,500 

321,400 

601,150 

435,455 

953,932 

585,042 

1,540,697 



P3 



2 
S 

a 

3 

"o 
O 



9,847 
67,387 
113,601 
57,394 
61,300 
175,675 
255,061 
243,000 
138,945 
106,865 
163,004 
201,990 
135,600 
414,400 
409,464 
314,813 
236,997 
637,120 
560,371 
564,877 
588,794 
1,021,319 
486,500 
711,600 
527,281 
1,206,473 






36,000 

54,000 

74,850 

120,700 

190,200 

420,372 

709,347 

683,382 

799,294 

480,000 

699,002 

678,500 

637,000 

874.596 

989^448 

960,365 

1,098,833 

1,534,745 

2,032,858 



o 
Eh 



4,000 

18,000 

28,000 

100,000 

150,000 

200,000 

250,000 

250,000 

352,500 

378,000 

493,747 

573,687 

640,101 

598,394 

679,500 

956,375 

1,045,661 

1,106,400 

971,924 

886,495 

909,047 

997,890 

1,142,722 

1,714,981 

1,633,419 

1,576,737 

1,348,797 

1,787,131 

1,884,211 

2,034,877 

2,300,462 

3,121,117 

2,484,000 

3,138,040 

2,994,485 

5,048,773 



4. Minerals.— From the opening of the Seattle assay office on 
July 15, 1898, to October 31, 1902, the gold deposits from Alaska 
amounted to $12,412,413. The fall cleanup will bring this amount 
up to $15,000,000, which sum, however, is not the total output of 

(6) 



Alaska, for large amounts were shipped to government mints and 
other assay offices. Careful authorities state that two-thirds as much 
was thus deposited, and the total output of Alaska is estimated o 
have been $25,000,000 for the last four years, an average of $6,250,- 
000 per annum. 

The mines at Nome and Dawson were located on "bonanzes" 
or "pockets" of exceptional richness. At Ophir Creek, near Nome, 
and other points in that vicinity, at Rampart, Koyukuk, Circle, Eagle, 
Valdes, and in the Tanana country, are vast areas of lower grade 
placer ground. These deposits will produce for many years, and 
when worked with water under pressure will, as they do now, yield 
rich returns to the miner. The legitimate mining industry in Alaska 
is only in its infancy. Little attention has been given to quartz 
mining, though valuable lodes have been located near Nome and in 
other parts of Alaska. Copper deposits of great promise are located 
near Valdes, while extensive coal measures crop out along the Arctic 
shore, on the Alaskan Peninsula and along the Yukon River in the 
great interior. 

It costs about five cents to produce a dollar of gold with a water 
pressure; by the earlier method of handling the dirt with a shovel 
it cost twenty-five cents. At least seventy-five per cent, of the en- 
tire output of Alaskan gold is profit to the miner — $20,000,000 in 
profit in four years. The salmon and fur seal fisheries yield high 
profits and it is a conservative statement to assert that Alaska pays 
an annual profit to American labor equal to the total price paid to 
Russia— $7,200,000. One hundred per cent, per annum on the in- 
vestment, with unlimited possibilities in the future — and yet the 
name Alaska was not mentioned in the President's last message. 
When will Porto Rico and the Philippines pay even ten per cent, on 
the investment? Alaska is American and of more value than all we 
obtained in the Spanish war — yet costly representative governments 
are thrust upon the un-American populations of Porto Rico and the 
Philippines, while Alaska asks in vain for a single delegate on the 
floor of Congress! 

5. Area.— Congress cannot properly appreciate the legislative 
needs of Alaska without carefully considering her climate and im- 
mense area. Some portions of the territory are as foreign to other 
parts in business interests as New York. The Juneau-Skagway re- 
gion is closely allied in business with Puget Sound, whence all its 
lines of transportation end, but has no connection in trade or travel 
with Nome or the interior. 

The map of Alaska is generally printed on the lower left-hand 
corner of the sheet containing that of the United States. As it is 

(7) 



only an unorganized territory and of minor importance it i3 always 
printed on a much smaller scale and we are accustomed by this dim- 
inutive eye-view to imagine it to be much less in proportion to the 
United States than it really is. As a matter of fact, it contains 
nearly 600,000 square miles, to be exact, 599,446. Texas, the largest 
state in the Union, contains only 266,011 square miles; Alaska is 
two and one-fourth times as large. Alaska is eleven times as large 
as New York, which has an area of 53,719 square miles, and 488 
times as large as Rhode Island, with its two senators and two rep- 
resentatives in the House. The thirteen original colonies contained 
only 399,947 square miles; Alaska, with its 600,000 square miles, is 
almost as large as the United States east of the Mississippi River. 
The Statss of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Nevada 
have a combined area of 520,142 square miles; Alaska is as large 
as all five with an overplus of area nearly equal to all the territory 
we obtained from Spain by the treaty of Paris. Mount McKinley, 
the highest peak in North America, rears its snow-capped 
dome 20,364 feet above the wide flat Valley of the Yukon. This 
great river discharges a third more water than the Mississippi, and 
is navigable for twenty-five hundred miles from Bering Sea. 

6. Future State Boundaries. — Population enters a new region 
along the line of least resistance. In conformity with this natural 
law the Sitkan district, popularly known as Southeastern Alaska, was 
settled over the inland route from Puget Sound. All lines of trans- 
portation to this region are local, and reach it under shelter of the 
island chain which extends from De Fuca's to Icy Straits. Mountain 
ranges have ever been national boundaries. The boundary between 
this part of Alaska and the British possessions was intended to be 
established along and does fairly coincide with the summit of the 
Coast range. Near Mount St. Elias the rigors of the climate have 
created glacial fields which extend from the mountain summits to 
the sea, and effectually sets a barrier between populations there. 
The Eskimo nation, extending along the sea-shore for 10,000 miles, 
was barred at this boundary. Below it the Thlinket tribes extended 
that form of semi-civilization to Puget Sound. The boundaries of 
the Sitkan district are thus fixed by Nature ; its population, railroads, 
mines, fisheries and timber interests are separate from any other 
portion of Alaska and clearly mark this region out for a separate 
territory. This district has a permanent poulation of 20,000 people, 
and should at once be given a territorial form of government with 
Juneau as the capital. 

The Copper River and Cook 's Inlet country, with the Aleutian 
Islands and the Bristol Bay region, mark another natural territorial 
division. The Seward Peninsula, with Nome as the center, the Kotze- 

(8) 



bue Sound region stretching away to the Colville Kiver, thence south- 
ward to the summit of Mount McKinley, and embracing the lower 
Yukon country, should be united in a third. The Yukon interior, 
the Tanana, Koyukuk and Porcupine Valleys, and all the great basin 
north of the Coast Eange, constitute a fourth compact area whose 
interests center at Rampart or Eagle. [ In view, then, of the great 
area of Alaska, its different climates, natural subdivisions, and lo- 
calized interests, it seems fair to assume that in the near future it 
must be divided into at least four territories, viz: (1) the territory 
of Sitka with its capital at Juneau, (2) the territory of Alaska with 
its capital at Valdes, (3) the territory of Seward with its capital at 
Nome, and (4) the territory of Tanana with its capital at either 
Rampart of Eagle. \ 

PRESENT CONDITION 

1. First Period Without Civil Government.— Fiom the time 
of its purchase from Russia to 1884, Alaska was without any form 
of civil government. Immediately after the purchase the customs 
laws were extended to the district, and the United States District 
Courts of California, Oregon and Washington were given jurisdiction 
to enforce the customs and seal fishery laws. The collector of cus- 
toms and his deputies and special agents of the treasury department 
were empowered to arrest offenders against these laws, but neither 
local civil courts, nor peace officers were provided. For seventeen 
years a revenue cutter officer was the civil government of Alaska. 

2. Organic Act of 1884.— On May 17, 1884, the President 
approved "An Act providing a civil government for Alaska," 23 
Stat. L. 47, Chap. 78. This Act constituted Alaska a civil and ju- 
dicial district and fixed the seat of government at Sitka. It provided 
for the appointment of a governor, established a District Court of 
general jurisdiction, a Commissioners Court of minor jurisdiction, 
extended the laws of Oregon to Alaska, provided a judge, clerk, 
marshal and district attorney. Section 8 of the Act extended the 
mining laws to Alaska, but carefully provided that "nothing con- 
tained in this Act shall be construed to put in force in said district 
the general land laws of the United States." Section 8 of the Act 
created Alaska a land district, provided a register and receiver and 
located their offices at Sitka. After the date of this Act so much 
of a civil government as it provided was maintained; a District Court 
was organized and the civil and criminal codes of Oregon enforced 
as the laws of the land. 

3. TovFNSiTE Laws Extended.- On March 3, 1891, the Presi- 
dent approved "An Act to repeal timber culture laws, and for other 

(9) 



purposes," the eleventh section of which extended the townsite act to 
Alaska, while the next section provided that not to exceed one hun- 
dred and sixty acres might be purchased by an occupant for the 
purpose of trade or manufactures. 

4. Homestead Act of 1898.— On May 14, 1898, an Act was ap- 
proved by the President which is entitled "An Act extending the 
homestead laws and providing for right-of-way for railroads in the 
District of Alaska, and for other purposes. ' ' 30, Stat. L. 409, Chap. 
299. This Act was and is a fraud upon the people of Alaska; it 
was not intended to and did not extend the homestead laws of the 
United States to Alaska ; it was only a clever scheme to enable specu- 
lators to fasten upon the choicest locations with scrip, and to secure 
grants of railroad rights-of-way. The homeseeker is not provided 
for and his interests were badly crippled by this law. The Act con- 
tains fourteen sections, but only the first one relates to homesteads 
and is as follows : Sec. 1. ' ' That the homstead land laws of the 
United States and the rights incident thereto, including the right to 
enter surveyed or unsurveyed lands under provisions of law relating 
to the acquisition of title through soldier 's additional homestead 
rights, are hereby extended to the District of Alaska, subject to such 
regulations as may be made by the Secretary of the Interior; and 
no indemnity, deficiency or lieu lands pertaining to any land grant 
whatsoever originating outside of said District of Alaska shall be 
located within or taken from lands in said district. Provided, That 
no entry shall be allowed extending more than eighty rods along the 
shore of any navigable water and along such shore a space of at 
least eighty rods shall be reserved from entry between all such claims, 
and that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to author- 
ize entries to be made or title to be acquired to the shore of any 
navigable waters within said district: And it is further provided, 
That no homestead shall exceed eighty acres in extent. ' ' 

This is the whole of the Alaskan homestead law! Examine it 
for a moment and note how it aids the homeseeker. It sounds fair 
to enact ' ' That the homestead land laws of the United States and 
the rights incident thereto, * * * are hereby extended to the 
District of Alaska," but no such results followed or were intended 
to follow from that language. A homestead entry under the land 
laws of the United States is only allowed upon surveyed lands, and 
there are no surveyed lands in Alaska. It follows that this fair 
appearing and positive enactment is utterly without effect. Then 
why was it passed? For the purpose of enabling speculators to 
acquire title to the choicest parts by location with Soldiers Addi- 
tional Hd. scrip. Read it carefully : ' ' That the homestead land 
laws of the United States and the rights incident thereto, including 
the right to enter surveyed or unsurveyed lands under provisions of 

(10) 



law relating to the acquisition of title through soldiers additional 
homestead rights, are hereby extended to Alaska." Notice that 
the right to acquire land titles on unsurveyed lands is not ex- 
tended to the settler as it is to the speculator with his additional 
homestead scrip, and this and this alone was the purpose of the act. 
The Act should have been entitled, "An Act to enable unsurveyed 
land in Alaska to be located with Soldiers Additional Homestead 

Scrip." 

And yet, the act provides ' ' That the homestead land laws of the 
United States * * * are hereby extended to Alaska," and the 
homeseeker can make a homestead entry if the surveys are ever 
extended over any portion of the district, but with these distinct 
limitations: 1. No homestead entry shall extend more than a 
quarter of a mile along navigable water. 2. A vacant quarter 
of a mile is reserved between all entries along navigable water. 
3. No title can be acquired to the shore of any navigable waters 
within the District, and 4. No homestead shall exceed eighty acres 
in extent. These limitations are unknown to the general homestead 
law of the United States, and are special defects beyond those 
already contained in the general homestead law of the United 
States if extended to Alaska. This Act is a fraud and an outrage 
perpetrated in the name of the homestead law upon the settler 
in Alaska, merely to enable the scrip land speculator and the railroad 
promoter to acquire the best of the public domain before the 
homeseeker is perm.itted to enter his home Congress cannot repeal 
section 1 of the Act of May 14, 1898, soon enough. 

In its place Congress ought to pass an Alaska Donation Land 
Law, giving to every married settler 640 acres of land, one-half to 
the husband and the other half to the wife, and to every unmarried 
settler thre hundred and twenty acres. This law should be a re- 
enactment of the Oregon Donation Land Law, which was entitled 
"An Act to create the oflace of Surveyor General of the public 
lands of Oregon, and to provide for the survey and to make dona- 
tions to settlers of the said public lands." 9 Stat. L., 496; 10 
Stat. L., 158 and 305. The advantages of the Donation Land Law 
are many, but among them are, 1st, It enables the settler to locate 
permanently on unsurveyed land. A settler under the homestead 
laws of the United States cannot enter unsurveyed lands; he may 
maintain the possession of unsurveyed land by occupancy, but when 
the surveys are entended over his lands he can only enter his home- 
stead according to the rectangular system of the surveys, and 
must abandon so much as is necessary to bring his farm into the 
survey. His lines are never permanent or fixed prior to survey— he 
cannot enter or make proof or obtain title. Under the donation law, 
however, the settler stakes his claim after the manner of a mining 

(11) 



claim, and when the surveys are extended, his claim is left just as he 
staked it. His lines are permanent and fixed from the time he 
sets his corners and he can make proof and acquire title at any 
time, either before or after survey. 2d. The Oregon Donation Act 
was the basis of the earliest and most valuable titles in Oregon and 
Washington and has since its enactment in 1850, been construed 
by the courts of highest resort, and is therefore certain, generally 
understood, adequate and liberal. 

5. Coal Land Law, 1900.— On June 6, 1900, the coal land law 
was extended to Alaska. Section 2347 of the United States Ee- 
vised Statutes provides, however, that coal lands shall only be 
entered "by legal subdivision." This limits coal land entries to 
surveyed lands, and as there are no surveyed lands in Alaska, the 
coal land law, as well as the homestead law, is wholly inoperative 
there. In the meantime coal mines in Alaska are held by force, 
and neither title nor the beginning of one can be obtained by the 
miners. Congress ought to amend the coal land law, so far as 
Alaska is concerned, so that unsurveyed lands may be entered after 
the manner of placer mines, but the area should be as now, at least 
one hundred sixty acres. 

6. The Penal Code of 1899.— It is a relief to turn from these 
cruelly insufficient land laws to the penal and civil codes. The 
penal code was enacted March 3, 1899, (23 Stat. L., 24,S. 7.) and 
is practically a re-enactment of that of Oregon, which had already 
been in force in Alaska since 1884. It contains a complete penal 
code and code of criminal procedure. The code of Oregon from 
which it was copied was in turn copied from the old New York and 
California codes; a long line of precedents from the decisions of 
these three states renders the task of construing its term both easy 
and satisfactory. Alaska 's penal code and code of criminal pro- 
cedure are sufficient and adequate; they fit her judicial system and 
are equal to the same codes in California, Oregon and Washington. 

7. The Civil Code of 1900.— On June 6, 1900, Congress passed 
and the President approved ' ' An Act making further pro- 
vision for a civil government for Alaska, and for other 
purposes." This Act is complete and embraced a civil code and a 
code of civil procedure. Together with the penal code, it gave to 
Alaska the very latest and best code of laws, fully in line with the 
spirit of the West. It, too, was copied from Oregon, and the 
long line of precedents construing its provisions in that and other 
code states, are equally valuable to the court and bar. These two 
codes furnish a complete system for the prevention and punishment 
of crime, and the enforcement of civil rights and the redress of 

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civil injuries. No state in the Union has a better penal and civU 
code system than Alaska and no amendments are necessary to either.) 

The penal code provides a complete system of criminal law, and 
a code of procedure. It provides for the trial of misdemeanors 
before a justice of the peace; the grand jury, trial jury and trial 
in the District Court, with an appeal to the Circuit Court of 
Appeals, 9th Circuit, or to the Supreme Court of the United States 
in capital cases. 

The civil code of 1900, provides for three District Courts in 
Alaska, and for terms in each district, and fixes at least one term 
per annum in each Judicial District. Courts are required to be held 
at Juneau, Skagway, Valdes, Unalaska, Eagle, Kampart, Coldfoot, 
and Nome. Under the code of 1900, commissioners are appointed 
by the district judge; they have the powers and jurisdiction of 
justices of the peace, coroner, recorder and probate judge, while an 
appeal lies from their Courts to the District Court, whence an 
appeal lies to the Circuit Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit. The civil 
code provides for a municipal organization in towns, and a district 
organization for schools, and provides a sufficient law for raising a 
revenue for each. While some of these features are crude, they 
might easily be made worse by amendments, and are really sufficient 
considering the youth of the territory. 

WHAT LEGISLATION ALASKA DOES NOT NEED 

We can often more definitely state our needs by first clearly 
pointing out what we do not need. That Alaska requires and ought to 
have the best form of Territorial Government is plain to the thought- 
ful student. There are some features of ler wants, however, that rise 
to the mark of necessities while others are supplied in part by existing 
laws. It is better to direct the attention of Congress to those 
actual necessities without which her interests must suffer than to 
spend time and argument in attempting to obtain unnecessary forms, 
even though usually given to territories. 

A Territorial form of government, under the American system, 
is established by the passage of an organic act by Congress pro- 
viding for the election of a legislative assembly and a delegate in 
Congress by the people of the Territory, and the appointment of 
the executive and judiciary by the President. 

1. Executive; Governor.— There are three fundamental re- 
quisites in all forms of American government, state or territorial, 
viz: the executive, legislative and judicial bodies. By the Organic 
Act of Alaska of 1884 Congress provided the executive or governor, 
and clearly defined his powers and duties in the usual language. 

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The section also provides that "He shall perform generally in and 
over said districts such acts as pertain to the office of governor of 
a territory so far as the same may be made or become applicable 
thereto." Alaska does not, therefore, imperatively require a new 
law re-establishing the executive department; she has what Terri- 
tories usually have in that respect. 

2. Legislative Assembly.— No provision was made in the 
Organic Act of 1884 or any subsequent Act of Congress for the 
election of a legislative assembly in Alaska. Instead of providing 
for this usual Territorial method of enacting laws, Congress adopted 
as the law of Alaska, the general laws then in force in the State 
of Oregon. (Sec. 7. Organic Act, 1884.) Without the necessity 
of electing a legislature, and by this simple organic device, the 
Territory became possessed of the general laws which the wisdom 
of many years had perfected in Oregon. Later, in 1899 and in 1900, 
Congress passed the penal and civil codes of Alaska, a body of 
local laws drawn from and identical w4th those of California, 
Oregon and Washington. This adoption of the code system for a 
Territory is unique in the history of the organization of American 
Territories Alaska is the first Territory to enjoy such a code prior 
to the election of the Territorial legislature Her codes are ample, 
and give her a local law equal to the foremost States of the Pacific 
Coast, and fully anticipate her legislative wants in these respects. 

The purpose of a Territorial legislature is to pass laws for the 
government of the people and the protection of their personal and 
property rights. Other Territories have begun existence without 
such laws, and no other means of providing them has ever before been 
provided In Alaska, however, this need is fully supplied and a 
legislative assembly is not absolutely necessary, for a time at least. 

As soon as Congress can be brought to see that the Sitkan or 
other natural Territorial subdivision or district is ready for and 
able to support a Territorial form of government it ought to be 
granted. At present, however, with her extensive area, unsettled 
communities and widely diversified groups of conflicting interests 
it is better for the whole of Alaska to depend upon the superior 
legislative assembly. Congress, to enact or amend her laws. 

3. A Delegate in Congress.— It follows that if the Territory 
is compelled to depend upon the Congress of the United States, 
and not a local legislature, to enact or amend her laws, Alaska 
ought to have a representative in Congress. This is Alaska's most 
important need and ought not to be neglected by Congress. Wheth- 
er the Delegate shall be elected or appointed is, of course, not so 
important, though an appointive Delegate will never be satisfactory 
to a highly intelligent body of voters like those in Alaska, even if 

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it is so to a Porta Kiean constituency, where more than eighty- 
three per cent, are unable to read. If the Delegate is to be 
appointed, it has been suggested that the Governor be declared 
Delegate, ex-officio, by reason of his organic duty to see that the 
laws are faithfully executed • It is my judgment that Alaska ought 
to be provided with a Delegate in Congress at once, and that he ought 
to be elected by a vote of the people. 

4. The Judiciary. — In all other Territories heretofore organ- 
ized the organic act has provided for three district judges and for 
the division of the Territory into three districts over each of which 
one of these judges shall preside. A Supreme Court was also pro- 
vided for to consist of the three districts judges sitting together 
to review appeals from the District Courts. By the organic laws 
of Alaska the Territory is divided into three districts over each of 
which a judge presides, but no Supreme Court is provided for similar 
to those in other Territories, All appeals from the District Courts 
in Alaska lie to the Circuit Corut of Appeals, 9th Circuit, or in 
capital and some other cases to the Supreme Court of the United 
States. A Supreme Court after the Territorial type is not needed 
in Alaska. It would be impossible for the three district judges of 
Alaska to meet, hold a term of the Territorial Supreme Court and 
return home the same year! If the Court were to be held at 
Juneau, for instance, an attorney and the judge from Nome would 
be required to go to Puget Sound and thence return to Juneau; after 
the session of the Court they would go to Puget Sound again and 
thence return back to Nome. Such a system would retard the 
administration of justice, impose additional burdens on litigants, 
lawyers and the judges. If a Territory is created out of South- 
eastern Alaska, or other natural subdivision, such a system would 
then be reasonable and proper; but never will be either while the 
present extensive limits of Alaska are to be included in one dis trict. 

Alaska has a better Supreme Court now than it can ever 
possibly have under any form of Territorial Government. The 
Circuit Court of Appeals of the 9th Circuit is and always will be 
composed of judges of the highest professional rank, who are and 
will be so far removed from local influence and surroundings that 
their review of the decisions of the District Courts cannot be 
equalled by any Territorial Supreme Court. The present method 
of reveiwing the decisions of the District Courts in Alaska is a 
distinct benefit to the administration of justice, and ought not 
to be departed from — certainly not as long as Alaska remains one 
Territory. Appeals from Alaska, though, ought to be heard 
before that term of the Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Seattle. \ 

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THE LEGISLATIVE NEEDS OF ALASKA ARE 

1. A Delegate in Congress. 

2. A law extending the Oregon Donation Land Law of 1850-53 
to Alaska. 

3. A survey of her Public Lands. 

4. Aid to all-American roads from Valdes, Kenia Peninsula 
and Cooks Inlet to the Yukon interior. 

5. Fish Hatcheries and the fair enforcement of the fishery 
laws. 

6. Coast surveys and Lighthouses. 

7. Weather Bureau Offices, and, 

8. The organization of four Territories as fast as the respective 
natural subdivisions contain the requisite permanent populations, viz: 

1. The Territory of Sitka, with its capitol at Juneau; 

2. The Territory of Alaska, with its capitol at Valdes; 

3. The Territory of Seward, with its capitol at Nome, and 

4. The Territory of Tanana, with its capitol at Eampart or 
Eagle City. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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